• blogTO shares media exploring how Toronto was marketed internationally in the 1980s. This decade apparently saw less concentration on landmarks and more on cultural activities.
• The Map Room Blog links to a National Geographic collection of the childhood maps of cartographers.
• Marginal Revolution notes that the loosening of China's one-child policy ( Read more... )

• Anthropology.net looks at the genetics of how the Inuit have adapted to cold weather.
• 'Nathan Smith's Apostrophen shares the author's plans for the coming year.
• Beyond the Beyond's Bruce Sterling shares Margaret Atwood's commitment to fighting for freedom of expression.
• Crooked Timber asks its readers for recommendations in Anglophone science fiction.
• ( Read more... )

• Bad Astronomy's Phil Plait evaluates the doability of Elon Musk's proposal for colonizing Mars.
• blogTO notes that Casa Loma will be transformed into a haunted house for the month of October.
• The Dragon's Tales notes NASA's belief that Europa almost certainly has watery plumes.
• False Steps shares an early American proposal for a lunar base.
• Far Outliers ( Read more... )

• Kieran Healy notes the role of social media in undermining the Turkish coup.
• Joe. My. God. notes US Army Secretary Eric Fanning's ride as Grand Marshal in the San Diego pride parade.
• The LRB Blog notes the aftermath of the Orange Order's fires in Northern Ireland.
• Marginal Revolution looks at what might be a veto in Scotland and Northern Ireland on ( Read more... )

The Gulf Times carried this charming AFP article from Estonia.

Residents on Estonia’s two biggest islands took their age old rivalry to a whole new level over the weekend by staging their first tug-of-war using a 10km long rope across the part of the Baltic sea which separates them ( Read more... )

• The BBC notes an attack on a vegan restaurant in Tbilisi by meat-eating nationalists.
• Bloomberg notes a slur by a German populist against a non-white soccer player, reports on Sweden's economic boom, Looks at rail investment in India, and notes Southeast Asia is beating out China as a destination for Japanese investment.
• Bloomberg View looks at ( Read more... )

• blogTO notes a new union for Toronto freelancers.
• Dangerous Minds notes a Chinese ban on live streams of women eating bananas seductively.
• The Dragon's Gaze notes a paper purporting to provide ways for telescopes to distinguish between exo-Venuses and exo-Earths.
• The Dragon's Tales links to a study modelling the collision between Theia and the proto- ( Read more... )

• Atlas Obscura looks at the 18th century British tradition of installing hermits in gardens.
• Bloomberg looks at Brexit proponents who say the United Kingdom can arrange a better deal with the European Union than Switzerland, notes continued anger after the housing collapse, and studies prospects for light rail in Los Angeles.
• CBC notes the death of K- ( Read more... )

• Apostrophen's 'Nathan Smith updates readers on his writing projects and points them to anthologies looking for new submissions.
• blogTO talks about the origins of Bay Street.
• Centauri Dreams notes new discoveries about the origins of mysterious "fast radio bursts".
• The Dragon's Tales notes how a genetic study of Panama's population showed the impact of ( Read more... )

• blogTO notes some interesting-looking apartment complexes scheduled to be built in Toronto.
• Dangerous Minds notes that, in the late 1970s, Debbie Harry wanted to remake Alphaville with Robert Fripp.
• The Dragon's Gaze notes that the Hubble telescope directly imaged gas giant 2M1207b, determining its rotation about its brown dwarf primary.
• The Dragon's ( Read more... )